40 RURAL iMICEIGAN 



of these miniature prairies set down in the Michigan 

 wilderness. By preference they established their 

 farmsteads on them rather than essay the prodigious 

 labor of creating a new clearing for themselves. The 

 origin of these treeless tracts is not beyond question. 

 Peculiarities of the soil may have caused some of 

 them. J. A. Jeffery, formerly professor of soils at 

 the Michigan Agricultural College, has remarked 

 concerning one such prairie not far from Mies that 

 it would not grow clover or wheat beyond a very light 

 yield until after being cropped with rye and cow- 

 peas, the rye cut off and the cowpeas turned under, 

 when a normal clover crop was reported to have been 

 secured. In some instances the soil of these open- 

 ings is said to have been light, in other cases very 

 good. There is much testimony that annual burn- 

 ings carried on by the Indians in connection with 

 their hunting operations were the chief reason for the 

 existence of the oak openings or prairies. So far 

 as known, they do not exist in the Upper Peninsula 

 nor in the northern area of the Lower Peninsula. 

 Elsewhere the clearing of the land has made their 

 extent and location a matter of tradition, but they 

 were undoubtedly very numerous and in the aggre- 

 gate quite extensive. One finds references to them 

 in most southern counties. They supplied pasture for 

 the wild deer and for the live-stock of the settlers. 

 With marsh-grass, they afforded winter forage. 



